BH Wiki - The Highwayman

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About “The Highwayman”

“The Highwayman” is the second poem in this exciting and unique series. Originally published in 1907, the poem is a

haunting, romantic ballad about a highwayman and his doomed

love for the beautiful Bess, the landlord’s “black-eyed daughter.”

The poem opens with the highwayman pledging his love to Bess

and asking her to watch for him by moonlight on the following

evening when he will come back for her. However, while

returning to the inn where his true love awaits, the highwayman

is unaware that the king’s soldiers lie in wait for him, concealed

in Bess’s room. When Bess hears the distinctive “tlot-tlot” of

his horse’s hooves, she warns the highwayman with her death

by pulling the trigger of the musket that the soldiers have

positioned beneath her breast. Her suicide saves her lover who,

after trying to avenge Bess’s death, is shot down “like a dog on

the highway.”
credits: Kid Can Press